SOFTBALL

BOSTON - The Norwich University softball team opened its conference slate with a doubleheader sweep of GNAC rival Emmanuel on Saturday afternoon. The Cadets took the opener 15-3, before winning the nightcap, 23-7.

NU improves to 6-4 (2-0 GNAC) with the sweep, while Emmanuel falls to 0-12 (0-2 GNAC).

Freshman MacKenzie Pratt pitched six solid innings in the opener, striking out 11 batters and earning the win in the circle for the Cadets.

Norwich scored three runs in the first inning, and three more in the top of the second to jump out to a 6-0 lead. Emmanuel got two runs back in the bottom of the second inning, but the Cadets scored twice in the fifth and six times in the sixth inning to put the game away.

Whitney Grennon went 1-for-3 with a home run and three RBIs. Kerri Ingraham was 1-for-1 with a double and three runs batted in. Jazmin Stevens, Codi Collins, Lindsey Fickett and Christine Carroll all rapped out two hits apiece to help pace the Norwich attack.

Collins and Marley Balasco each homered and drove in four runs in the nightcap to help lead the Cadets to the lopsided victory. NU scored in every inning except for the fifth, and the offense exploded for 11 runs in the seventh to blow the game wide open. Grennon and Fickett each had four hits apiece to lead the 21-hit attack.

Norwich resumes its conference slate on Sunday, March 30, when the Cadets travel to New Haven, Conn., to battle GNAC foe Albertus Magnus in a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m.